Twilight's Last Shining
by Tears of Light
Summary: Harriet just submitted to the new online game Pokemon Infinity. Yet all is not what it seems and tragedy strikes on her virtual quest. To get through her epidemic she must solve an elaborate puzzle spanning across all the regions and all the islands.
1. The Game

Twilight's Last Shining

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon nor the other game which this is based on, though I won't tell you the game yet. In fact, I'm expecting you to guess the game!

It's not that hard, provided you watched the show, read the manga, or played the video game. As a matter of fact, I'm making this into a kind of game. If you elect to answer the question, please come up with your own character bio and post it in your review. Why? Because I'm planning on putting the first person whom answers correctly in the story!

All you need is a design of your character, a name, a personality, and your pokemon party. Your pokemon party should have 6 pokemon, and you should list their levels (up to 100) and their moves. As for the ability, make sure that if you do list it, it's one that the pokemon can know (for example: Don't have Sableye have "Wonder Guard" instead of "Keen Eye"). If you don't know the ability, don't worry about it. I have a walkthrough which lists the ability a pokemon can have. If there are two, then I'll let you know which ones they are and what they do so that way you can decide and respond to the e-mail with the answer of which one you wish that pokemon to have. Understand?

Also, if you can, give the pokemon a nature, or personality for me to use. While pokemon in this story are just as restricted as those in the game, the ones in the game have a nature listed so to keep true as I can to the game I'd appreciate it greatly. Don't know the possible natures? Don't worry about it. I'll pick one for you! The gender of the pokemon would help to, provided that the pokemon can have a gender.

Well, you've been waiting forever for me to get to the story so now there is nothing left to do but give you what you've been waiting for!

* * *

It was the year 2025 and Harriet Tarner, a 16 year old girl living in Virginia, was walking home from school with her friends when one of them asked, "Hey, Harriet, you like Pokemon, don't you?"

Harriet nodded her head and said, "A little, why?"

Her friend, Sally, continued, "They just came out with this new game!"

Harriet replied, "I told you this a hundred times: as much as I like pokemon, I'm happy with the games I have now and am not going to spend even more money to get a game exactly like the ones I have only with new features and maybe a few new pokemon. The game may be older than I am but I still like it the way it is."

Sally responded, "This one is different!"

Jennifer, the other member of the trio, replied, "You say that about every game, but other then the different story line I noticed no difference. I mean, in 19 years you would expect that they would come up with some new pokemon, now wouldn't you?"

Sally countered, "Yeah, well this time I'm serious! They made it an online MMORPG!"

Harriet gave a confused glance at her pokemon obsessed friend. Sally explained, "MMORPG stand for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game."

Jennifer asked, "English, please?"

Sally sighed and said, "It means that millions of people can play the game at once and interact with each other as if they were in a chat room yet be able to see the other person's character design as if they were talking in the real world."

Harriet said, "That sounds mildly interesting."

Jennifer gave a nod of agreement and Sally continued, "It's more then just mildly interesting, it's awesome! Plus it's not that expensive. Because they anticipate millions to join they only charge $20 per person to play for as long as they want! Not only that, but they have events held every once in a while for items and rare pokemon and new features for your character so that way you can further customize yourself. You buy the disk you need to play at any video game store."

Harriet replied, "You're right, that does sound awesome."

Sally nodded and said, "It is. You should get it."

Harriet responded, "Well, I don't know…it does sound cool, but I don't know if I really want to play a game that requires me to be online."

Sally said, "Believe me, it's worth it."

Harriet then said, "Here's my house. I'll see you guys later."

Her friends waved goodbye and continued on. Harriet walked up to the doorstep and took out her key. She unlocked the door and walked into the house. On her way to the kitchen to get an after-school snack she spied a note on the table. She picked it up and read it.

I've gone out to do some shopping. I'll be back later.

_ Mom _

PS: There's some ice cream in the freezer for you.

Harriet smiled and grabbed a bowl to eat her ice cream treat. When she had finished she stretched out on the couch. She thought, "_I wonder what I should do?"_

Her conversation with Sally and Jennifer replayed in her mind over and over until it drove her nuts. She shook her head and walked into her room. On her desk beside the computer was the $50 dollars she set aside before going off to sleep the previous night. Harriet laughed at the coincidence and grabbed it and a coat before walking out the door toward the nearest video game store.

Harriet walked up to the counter and asked, "Excuse me? Could I get one of the disks to play the online Pokemon game?"

The man fished under his desk and pulled out a case containing a disk and handed it to Harriet. "That will be $23 dollars. You know, if you get the virtual reality head gear, it'll make the experience a lot more real for just an additional 15 dollars, 17 including tax."

Harriet thought for a moment before saying, "Alright."

The man smiled and said, "Okay then, that'll be 40 dollars total ma'am."

Harriet handed him the fifty and he gave her 10 dollars back and a bag containing her purchases inside. The man then said, "Have fun."

Harriet replied, "I will. Thank you."

She then hurried home and unlocked the door again. She walked into her room and sat down at the desk. She followed the directions for the head gear and the controller and connected it to the computer. Afterward she placed the disk inside the disk drive and a few seconds later installation instructions appeared. After following them a message stating "Installation has been successfully completed! Do you wish to play the game?"

Two choices appeared: Yes and Cancel. Harriet moved her cursor over to Yes and double clicked. Some further instruction followed:

1: Please enter your user name.

Harriet tried her own name.

Error! This name is already in use. Please choose a different name.

Harriet thought about it for a long while and entered the name Lily.

2: Please enter your password.

Harriet typed "BlueFlame"

3: Please confirm.

Harriet retyped "BlueFlame"

What is your character's age?

Harriet picked her own age: 16.

4: Design your character.

Harriet choose to be a girl and the silhouette of a teenage girl appeared. She choose to have blue hair, purple eyes, and light skin and the corresponding part filled in. For her hairstyle, she choose to have a ponytail with a red hair-tie. She also decided to have a red and white ball cap with a pokeball on it. Her ponytail went immediately through it and the red hair-tie was covered up.

She then moved on to the body and chose a turquoise tank-top and a blood red skirt. The tank-top clung tightly to her character's skin and the skirt came down to just above her knees. For a pack she choose the yellow bag with a shoulder strap which crossed from left shoulder (your left) to about her waist on the right side. She choose to have white socks and white sneakers with a blue thunderbolt zigzag on both sides.

Is this your character design? The choices Yes and Cancel appeared. Harriet clicked yes.

What is your region? The choices Kanto, Johto, and Hoen. Harriet didn't want to repeat Hoen's journey again and chose Kanto.

Is this where you wish to begin your journey?

Harriet chose yes and this pop-up appeared: Your account has been successfully uploaded. Welcome to Pokemon Infinity!

She was taken immediately to the game's website where she was faced with two choices: Login and Board.

Harriet double-clicked Login and put on her virtual reality helmet. She was instantly faced with the florescent green grass of the Pokemon world. She looked around and saw various people wandering around getting things done. She spied a large building and decided to walk inside.

An old man in scholar clothes awaited inside. Lily walked up to him and said, "Hello?"

The old man turned around and said, "Why hello there! You must be Lily."

Lily stared at the old man and he continued, "I'm Professor Oak, a highly respected pokemon professor. I must ask you to run an errand for me."

Lily said, "I don't really want to…"

Professor Oak replied, "Very well then! You will need a pokemon to protect you along the way. Over here."

Professor Oak strolled over toward the three pokeballs on the table. He then said, "Choose one."

Lily looked at each choice. She could have either Charmander, Squirtle, or Bulbasaur. After much thought, she chose Squirtle. Professor Oak then said, "A package has arrived in the Pokemart in Viridian City. I'd greatly appreciate it if you could bring it back to me."

Lily stared at Professor Oak and another player said, "He's a NPC. His responses are programmed for him. Even if you said, for example, eat crap you big asshole he'd still respond the same way."

Lily turned around using the controller and found herself face to face with a boy with red hair, yellow eyes, a backpack, a red shirt and blue jeans with normal white sneakers. The red hair was messy and his backpack was yellow like Lily's bag. He had slightly tan skin. He looked to be about 17 years old, but Lily couldn't tell.

Lily said, "What's an NPC?"

The boy replied, "A non-player character. Basically people who have varying degrees of importance but are basically computers."

Lily then asked, "Who are you?"

The boy replied, "Who are you, I might ask."

Lily could hear the teasing tone behind his voice and sighed. She then said, "My name's Lily. What's your name again?"

The boy surrendered his name, "Blazon. Nice to meet you. I presume you are a beginner?"

Lily replied, "Yeah. What about you?"

Blazon responded, "I've earned a few badges and returned here to see if the good old professor would give me anything. Yet all he does is review my Pokedex."

Lily asked, "Is your Pokedex good?"

Blazon replied, "Well, I finally got 100 species. Let's go outside to talk, it's getting a little crowded in here."

Lily noticed the small crowd of newbies rushing in to receive their first pokemon. She walked out and Blazon followed behind.

"I take it you're new to the MMORPG gaming system."

"How can you tell?"

"Unlike the others, you don't know the basic terms such as NPC. I don't suppose you could guess what a PC is?"

Lily laughed and said, "A computer."

Blazon made his character slap his forehead. Lily gaped at the movement. "Okay, a PC is also an acronym for Player Characters, such as you and me."

Lily replied, "How did you get your PC to do that?"

Blazon said, "I typed in "SlapForehead:"

Lily tried out the system by typing in, "Blank:" which caused her face to assume a confused or dazed look.

Blazon laughed and said, "You're getting it. There are also shortcuts but I'll leave that to you to find out."

He turned around to leave and Lily said, "Hey, where are you going?"

Blazon smiled and said, "To leave you to your quest. Mayhap we will meet again if destiny dictates it."

With that he took a pokeball and threw it up in the air. It glowed and instantly a Pokemon came out. It was a blazing bird with a long beak and a body seeming to be made of flame. Despite the incinerating appearance, Blazon casually hopped on. The bird gave a single fantastic cry before lifting off into the air and racing off at the speed of light.

The spectacle left a crowd of awed newbies and impressed regulars. Lily stared off into the azure sky for a second longer before thinking to herself, "_Well, about this quest…_"

* * *

There are so many clues to this contest that it's not even funny...

Well, I hope you like it and please review (even if you aren't entering that contest)!


	2. Off on the Journey

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon or the other game which this is based off of.

Nobody won yet, so don't let the appearance of a new character discourage you. I just decided out of the goodness of my own heart to let my sole reviewing into the story. See? You can get rewarded just for trying!

Now, on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 2: Off on the Journey

The first thing Lily did was press the start button on the controller to bring up the menu. After moving her cursor down toward Pokemon she pressed the "A" button to check the status of her new Squirtle.

Lily saw that she was correct in her assumption that Squirtle was a water type. It had a Gentle nature and the only moves it knew were Tackle and Tail Whip. Moving from her Pokemon to her inventory she noticed that she had absolutely no items yet. Seeking to rectify this predicament she turned toward a house toward the left and nearly burst out laughing when she saw the sign had read "Lily's House."

She went inside and bypassed the woman inside. The house was fairly crowded, but it seems that most other people had moved on from Pallet town to a town or city farther ahead. Inside the bedroom were several people conversing in the empty space and a small line for the computer.

Lily took her place in the line and thought to herself, "There's no escaping lines! They're everywhere, including video games. It's madness!"

A person ahead of her turned around and faced Lily. He had messy black hair, with brown eyes and light colored skin. The hoody which he donned was of red and yellow design, and the backpack was jet black with matching shoes on his feet. He said, "Hi."

Lily replied, "Um…hi?"

The character continued, "It seems wherever we go in life there is always a waiting line. If I wanted to wait in line all day I would've found the most anxiously awaited concert in America and stepped in line for that. At the very least I would have gotten something at the end of it."

Lily laughed and said, "I was just thinking that."

He followed suit and when their short-lived laughing fit was over he introduced himself, "I'm Emosifier."

Lily took a moment to contemplate the odd name and was grateful that the expression didn't mimic itself onto her avatar. Not that she would've noticed anyhow. "Lily. Nice to meet you."

Emosifier made his avatar assume a smile and said, "So what brings you here to the most popular computer in all of Kanto?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if I had anything in there. Like a potion or something. I've only just started out you see," Lily explained.

Emosifier replied, "Oh, I see. You're a newbie. I gotcha. Same here. I heard one of my friends raving about this game and although I never played a Pokemon game before I decided to give this one a shot."

"Same here, only I had played Sapphire before starting on this one. So how far are you?"

Emosifier said, "I just got my Pokedex and traded my starter for an Onix. And let me tell you, this Onix is awesome! The person I got it from had bred it and was trading it and other baby Pokemon to the newbies. I think her name was Jessica."

There was a pause and he confirmed, "Yep. Jessica. Onix is a Rock and Ground type, by the way."

Lily made her avatar smile and said, "That wasn't a very good idea. As soon as that Onix reaches level ten it'll start disobeying you. If I were you I'd hurry up and catch another Pokemon before that happens."

Emosifier asked, "Pokemon can disobey you?"

Lily replied, "Yep. If you don't have the right badges they'll all disobey you when they reach a certain level. You can move up now by the way."

Emosifier turned around and moved up the line. "So…what? All Pokemon will eventually disobey you if you train them too much?"

Lily corrected, "Only traded Pokemon disobey you. Pokemon you caught on your own will always remain loyal. So why are you going to the computer?"

Emosifier replied, "I'm seeing if I can deposit money like in a bank and earn interest. I read on the boards that if you lose a battle against an NPC then you lose half you money. I'm not buying anything now so I figured that I'd just store all my money here."

Lily asked, "You can do that?"

Emosifier shrugged and said, "I don't know. There were so many posts in that board I got bored trying to read them. Get it? Board and bored?"

Lily's silence indicated that she didn't find his pun funny. Emosifier then continued in a sort of embarrassed tone of voice, "Okay that was bad. Sorry."

Lily reassured, "It's alright. I've made some bad jokes in my time too. My mom always told me that people are usually funnier when they don't intend to be, and so far my personal experience has only served to reinforce that theory."

Emosifier shrugged and said, "What about comedians? They try to be funny and they are, so I'm not so sure if that theory holds water."

Lily shot back, "That's their job. Plus, they don't use jokes or puns. They just string together a whole bunch of anecdotes and tell them in such a way that makes people laugh. It's your turn now."

Emosifier turned around and logged onto the computer. A few seconds later he logged off and said, "Well that was a bunch of time wasted. Well, nice meeting you."

Lily smiled and said, "Likewise."

He walked off and Lily logged onto the computer. Inside the computer was a potion. Lily withdrew it and went back downstairs and out the door.

She headed out of Pallet town and walked toward Viridian. In the grassy areas she encountered Pidgeys and Rattatas, both of which were dispatched relatively easily by her Squirtle. "I see battles haven't changed," thought Lily.

She talked to some of the various people along the way and got some tips she already knew from her past experiences in Pokemon. She also acquired a potion from an NPC standing close to the entrance to the city.

For a city, Viridian was rather small. It had a couple houses, and the Pokemon center immediately greeted her upon entering. Like she had done many times in Sapphire, she walked into the Pokecenter and healed her pokemon.

Further inspection of the town revealed a person standing across from a pond in the lower left hand corner of the town. The person was inaccessible at this time. She also saw some players yelling at the old man toward the northern exit of the town. She also saw some people trying futilely to enter the gym only to find it was locked.

She caught sight of the pokemart and remembered that Professor Oak had asked her to pick up something from there. She walked over and entered. There was a small wait for the man at the counter, but soon enough she was able to talk to him.

"Hello. Hey, aren't you from Pallet town? Then I've got a package I'd like you to deliver to Professor Oak. Here you go."

The man bent down and reached under the counter and produced a small box which Lily's avatar immediately took. Lily walked out of the store and headed back toward Pallet town, via jumping over the ledges to avoid encounters.

At last she entered Pallet town and immediately entered the lab. She pressed the "A" button on the remote control to get him to start talking. "Ah! I see you have brought it!"

Lily's character immediately handed over his parcel and Professor Oak put it in his pocket. He then continued, "As your reward, I'm going to give you this Pokedex and five pokeballs. You can keep the pokemon you picked earlier too."

Lily brought up the menu and selected Save. After saving her progress she was asked if she wanted to log off. Selecting yes brought her back to the log in screen. She took off her headset and set next to the computer. She looked at the clock and saw it was 5:30. Harriet smiled and thought, "That took longer than I thought."

The front door unlocked and Harriet's parents came through. "We're back," exclaimed her mother. Harriet replied, "Hello!"

"So what have you been up to?"

"Just playing this new game I bought today."

* * *

Sorry it took so long to update and sorry if I butchered a character. Feel free to make corrections by sending in your review. 


	3. The Boards

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Thank you for being patient! Chapter 3 finally up! You see, things are going to get much more complicated from here on out so you might want to get a notebook or a couple of pieces of paper out in order to keep track of all the characters I'm going to be introducing starting now. Currently, I have over 60 characters planned out and I don't expect your memory to be that good. If you have a really hard time just PM me and I'll tell you who's who and what they are currently doing and their relationship with other characters as of now. I might even give away some free info if you ask!

Well, on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 3: The Boards

Harriet's day at school passed by without any events of importance and before she knew it she was inside of her house. Sally had raved more on how awesome Pokemon Infinity and Harriet held back the impulse to tell her that she had bought the game. Harriet figured she'd try to find out who her friend was in the game first.

After arriving home Harriet completed her homework and decided to log back on to her newest game. This time, however, she didn't choose to enter the world. She chose to enter the boards this time. Instantly she was faced with a very long list of topics.

She spotted one labeled 'Homework' and double clicked. After reading a couple of the many posts she realized that this thread was designed to help people finish their homework as fast as possible via them posting the question and someone else posting the answer.

Lily took some time to write this post, "You really should be doing this. You'll never learn anything this way. You ought to finish your homework first before logging onto the game."

She clicked post and the board brought her to the very end of the thread. Content with posting this she started to go back to the topic list when a new reply posted almost immediately, "Who are you to tell us what to do? There isn't possibly enough time to do all the homework and still have some time to play this game."

Lily frowned and posted again, "Yes there is. I just finished my homework just a few minutes ago. I don't care how important this game is to you, but you really ought to finish your homework before playing."

The person responded immediately back, "But then I won't have enough time to play!"

Lily sighed and posted, "Whatever. I'm off."

She didn't wait for the person to reply and simply returned to the topic list. After scrolling down a bit she spotted one called 'Newbies post here.' She double clicked and read the starting post, "Well, I've played the game for a little while now and I was thinking to figure out who all the newbies are so I might help you if you have any problems."

Lily noticed that there was a username above the post for the first time. The person who started this thread was named Jessica. Lily smiled and remembered that Emosifier had said that Jessica was the one who traded him that baby Onix.

She decided to post there by typing, "Hello, my username is Lily. I'm in Kanto currently."

She waited a little while and wasn't surprised to see that someone has posted a couple minutes after her. It was Jessica, "Hello Lily! I'll see if I can find you in the game sometime. Maybe I'll trade you a pokemon."

Lily posted back, "Looking forward to it."

After that she returned to the Topic list and double clicked a tread called 'Let's discuss the old games!"

There were only a few posts in this thread and Lily had decided to read them all. Someone named Talako had posted, "So I was thinking we could discuss some of the older games. Most people are in such a tizzy about the new ones they completely forget Pokemon's roots."

Elurne had posted back, "Yeah, I know. I really enjoyed playing Diamond but now that's old news. I've wanted to ask people about it for a while now but it seems like nobody's played it. Even in this game the world of Diamond has been all but forgotten."

Talako posted back, "I really did like that game. Don't worry though, the game programmers are probably just trying to upload that world onto the game."

Elurne replied, "But why is it taking so long? It didn't take nearly as long to upload Johto and Hoen."

Talako replied, "Don't ask me, I'm just a normal player. You're better off asking a moderator or an administrator."

Elurne posted, "I tried. They don't respond to my e-mails."

Talako responded, "They're probably too busy to do so. Hey, we're getting off topic here!"

Elurne said, "Oh, sorry."

That was the end of the thread and Lily chose to reply, "I heard about diamond but never bothered to play it. I was too content to play Sapphire."

She returned to the topic list and scrolled down until another one caught her eye: 'R Discussion.' Curious at what the topic was about she decided to go.

There were quite a few posts here, but it was so interesting that Lily had decided to read them all. The topic starter was named Geo, "So, where are we to meet?"

Mara had replied back, "I was thinking about the city of the lake. That's where they were before, remember?"

Geo retorted, "Oh yeah. The city of the Pidgeot is a good place too."

Mara replied, "Okay, then it's settled. We'll meet up there."

Geo posted, "Good. So what of the others?"

Somebody named Jerry had posted, "Our friends in Johto? They've already decided where to meet up. Kilok successfully oversaw this."

Lily grew more wrapped up in the conversation when she saw who had posted next, "Blazon here. We've already met up here in Hoen."

Mara responded, "Then what are you doing in Kanto?"

Blazon said, "Hey, I've got to progress in the game somehow. I'd really like access to all the lands. I've only got Johto to worry about now. Luckily I'm almost there."

Sunny had replied back, "You better hurry up and get your butt back here! I'm having all sorts of trouble without you."

Azula had replied back, "Suck it up. It'll do you no good to cry about not being able to do anything without him. Doesn't really reflect well about your capabilities. Anyhow, we're all set up as well. Are you meeting up with our friends in the Sevii Islands Blazon?"

Blazon posted, "Yeah, I'm meeting up with them too. I don't see why we don't just count them with those in Kanto though."

Geo posted, "We need to have a system, Blazon. How else are we going to help the people having trouble if we don't have members everywhere?"

Blazon asked, "What about Battle Frontier then?"

Azula replied, "That's too easy to fly to. You need a boat to get to the Sevii Islands though."

Another player named Ruka had posted, "With no thanks to Blazon, we've gotten ourselves organized."

Geo replied, "Good. Now, I'll be counting on all of you to follow Blazon's example and gain access to all the lands."

Kunia scolded, "Thanks a lot Blazon!"

Blazon responded, "I don't see what the problem is. This is a fun game. That's why we've all set ourselves up: To discover secrets and to help other players have fun. Otherwise we're pointless."

Hisikuin replied, "If that is the case then I don't see why we have to move from our regions. You yourself haven't even caught all of the pokemon native to Hoen yet!"

Blazon replied, "You know me. I get bored too easily just running around leveling up and trying to capture the rarest of creatures. I prefer capturing the legends and battling."

Kunite replied, "Don't worry about being able to progress Kunia, I your twin shall help you out."

Kunia replied, "Oh, please thank you! I'm horrible at coming up with good teams."

Azula asked, "If you are so bad at battling then why did you even play this game?"

Kunia defended, "I'm good at battling! I just wind up making teams that have obvious weaknesses. It's my curse for liking the Fire type so much. I can't beat Wallace! I'm better at breeding and contests anyway."

Kunite replied, "I'll trade you my Manetric and Roselia. They're both level 50."

Kunia posted, "Oh thank you! I'll meet you in front of the gym."

Kunite responded, "See you in a sec."

Blazon replied, "If they're twins then how come they need to post here to talk to each other?"

Azula posted, "They aren't actually twins. They just decided to call each other that because of their names. Anyway, any news on the Sea's Fury?"

Blazon replied, "That's your jurisdiction, Azula."

Azula posted, "Well sorry but I've looked everywhere and just can't find it."

Blazon responded, "Well don't feel bad because I haven't found the Earth's Rage either. Who was it that tipped us off on it anyway?"

Azula replied, "Jessica. She was a part of the original version before the programmers upgraded it recently and said during her travels she came upon them. She even showed them to me but she didn't want to trade them."

Geo posted, "I don't think we've even found the island she mentioned either. I even forgot who I assigned to that task."

Mara answered, "You assigned Canika to it. I haven't heard from her in a while though. You don't think she's gone, do you?"

Ruka said, "I e-mailed her. She said she had a bad experience while trying to find it and she won't touch the game ever again."

Blazon replied, "Good God! What happened to her?"

Ruka answered, "She wouldn't say. Must've been pretty bad though."

Mara posted, "I don't know. She didn't seem like the bravest of people to me. She probably got scared from something in the scenery."

Lily could imagine Blazon laughing before posting this, "Probably. Don't worry though, I'll take it over."

Azula replied, "You over-achiever. Maybe you should complete your own task before taking on another?"

Blazon retorted, "Don't worry, I'll get to it. Nobody said there would be a time limit on how fast things were completed as long as they were."

Geo posted, "Very well. I entrust this task to you, Blazon. I expect an update on your progress whenever you make a breakthrough."

Blazon replied, "Very well, Sir. I'll e-mail you everything I discover."

Geo responded, "Good. I'm looking forward to it."

This was the last post in the thread. Lily took a few moments to reread the posts. She was confused about some things. She didn't really know what the organization was, but it reminded her of Team Magma and Team Aqua. Sea's Fury sounded a lot like Kyogre, and she had heard about Groudon from Sally who had played Ruby. Still, what was this island they had mentioned, and what happened to Canika?

"Harriet, it's time for dinner!"

Her mother's voice snapped Harriet from her stupor. She logged off and went to eat dinner. She'll keep updated on this thread. Maybe she'll figure something out in a little while.

* * *

Well, I hope you have a good idea of who is who by reading that. From now on you won't be just seeing things from Harriet's point of view so that I can explain the party dynamics without making a sequel (unless you want me too, the story goes back so far that it could easily be turned into an independent story).

Well, that's it for now so just review and I'll update as soon as I can.


	4. Team Rocket

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or .Hack. Yes, the contest has been won!

I really suggest that if you haven't been doing so already that you get a piece of paper out and write down the names of all these people. Or maybe copy and paste this document as something like character files or something. You could try to keep everybody straight in your head but trust me, when there are 60+ characters it's a little difficult. Anyway I'm doing this chapter late at night so I hope there aren't too many errors. Tell me if there are and I'll fix them.

* * *

Chapter 4: Team Rocket

Saffron City was a bustling town with many buildings and people, players and NPCs alike. The train station was the source of much activity, and the tallest building, the Silph Co., was a skyscraper extending to the artificial sky above. It was the Saffron City's landmark, and was the tallest building in all of Infinity. Inside its walls contained the place players go to ask the administrators questions, as well as the working place for administrators who happened to be logged onto the game. However, unbeknownst to those within it, it was also the meeting place for a secret organization known as Team Rocket.

Just outside the Silph Co. building stood a single player. He had short brown hair that was accentuated by a small black headband on his forehead, blue eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He had on a matching shirt and blue jeans and was also wearing black sneakers. He had a black back slung over his shoulder hanging around his side. He appeared the age of 17.

"Hello, Geo," said a newcomer. She had black, wavy hair that billowed around her face and ending about shoulder length. Her skin had a healthy color to it, but it wasn't necessarily tan, and her dark sapphire eyes twinkled in a seemingly mischievous fashion. She had on a gold chain necklace and a ruby glittered brightly hanging from it. Her navy blue dress started at about the shoulders and ended a few inches above her ankles where a pair of black high heels was worn. The dress was shaped in such a way to start at the chest just a mere inch away from showing some cleavage and the sleeves were fairly normal up until the point that the sleeves continued downward away from the hands (A.N. I hope you know what I mean because I'm not so good with words that I can accurately paint a picture for you). She appeared a good 25 years of age.

Geo smiled and said, "Hey, Mara. Where's the rest of the team?"

Mara replied, "Oh they're coming. Just give them a bit."

Geo stated, "I just hope that they don't forget. I tried getting the word out to everyone, but you never know sometimes."

Mara responded, "Yeah. Though honestly I wouldn't mind if Matt elected to skip out on this," she added with a grimace.

Geo laughed and commented, "Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, there's Hisikuin."

Another player approached the duo. He had wavy orange hair down to the back of his neck and brown eyes. He had on a white shirt with a black jacket over top of it. His jeans extended over a pair of white and red sneakers. His avatar waved and said, "Hello sir. And ma'am," he added indicating Mara.

Geo sighed and said, "For the last time, call me Geo. I have a username for a reason you know."

Mara added, "And I would appreciate it if you didn't call me ma'am either. It makes me feel old."

Hisikuin respectfully said, "Sorry sir, I mean Geo. Sorry Mara."

"Hey, Geo! What's up?"

Geo looked in the direction and said, "Hey, Blazon you made it!"

Hisikuin said with an obvious disdain, "Don't you have something else to do?"

Blazon looked at Hisikuin and replied, "I was in the area and wanted to crash the party. Hello Mara. I trust you are doing well?"

Mara smiled and said, "I'm doing fine. And you?"

Blazon grinned and said, "Oh, same old, same old. Uh-oh, don't look now."

Mara and Geo both asked simultaneously, "What?"

"Matt the monster at 2 o'clock."

Mara spotted him from afar and said, "Oh great. Hide me," she added, cowering behind Blazon and Geo.

Matt was a boy with long, silky silver hair and golden eyes who appeared to be about 19 or 20. His skin was just pale enough to go well with his silver hair, and he was wearing a white robe and black shoes that went with the style. His metallic silver backpack appeared to gleam with the artificial sunlight. Some female onlookers gawked at them and even went so far as to make their avatar stare dreamily at him. Their glances didn't go unnoticed, and Matt made his avatar smile charmingly at them. It was so corny you could almost even see the single sparkle so common in anime with this smile.

He turned away from the amorous onlookers and toward the small group. "Hey, what's up? Sorry if I'm late."

Geo replied, "You're not. Actually you're a little early to tell the truth."

Matt said, "Yeah, well you know me."

Matt noticed Mara hiding behind Blazon and Geo and said, "Why hello there, Mara! Looking as lovely as usual today I see."

He smiled that corny smile at her and Mara groaned. She then reluctantly said, "Thanks. You know, as a TK-4, which mind you is the lowest rank in the Kanto division, you really don't need to show up as early…or even show up at all," Mara added under her breath.

Matt replied, "But then I wouldn't get to see your lovely face up close and personal."

Mara rolled her eyes and looked the other direction. There she saw the familiar face of yet another person. "Jerry!"

Jerry waved and said, "Hey Mara, Geo, and Hisikuin. Hey, what are you doing here, Blazon?"

Blazon replied, "Just dropping by. So how have you been?"

Jerry said, "I've been okay. Still not used to being in charge though," he added with a laugh. Blazon replied, "Give it time. You'll get used to it."

Jerry was a boy about the age of 16. He had tan skin and dirty blonde hair that ran some ways into his face without obscuring it. He had on a forest green and goldenrod shirt with blue slacks partially covering his white sneakers. He had on a navy blue backpack.

Another pair was approaching the slowly forming crowd. One was a girl who appeared to be about 14 years of age. She had on a pink shirt with a picture of a Skitty on it, and tight blue jeans. Her tennis shoes were a blackish color, and she had around her neck an emerald on a silver chain. She had intensely blue eyes, a slight tan, and light brown hair with streaks of red toward her face.

The boy also appeared to be about 14. His character had messy, anime style hair and brown eyes. His skin wasn't incredibly tan, though it was of a hue darker than the girl. He had on black, leather boots, black pants, a black shirt, and a black leather coat. Aside from the bad boy wardrobe, there was also a sort of shyness to him that somehow imitated itself on the avatar. A sort of withdrawn feeling that you would never feel from simply what the avatar looked like. His presence superimposed itself on the avatar.

The girl looked around and shouted out, "Hey! Geo!"

Geo looked over and saw the pair. "Hello there. Elena, right? And you are Zack?"

Elena nodded and said, "Yep."

Zack said in a timid voice, "Hiya."

Geo replied, "You two are new I take it? I trust that you are enjoying your work in the team?"

Elena shrugged and said, "It's a little tough and I hadn't made a heck of a whole lot in last week's pay."

Geo explained, "Well, we're relatively new and not many people know who we are just yet. Add on to this that we haven't discovered half of the secrets surrounding the pokemon world and we should really be lucky for the little we do get. But with some hard work from member such as yourself and we'll start racking in the riches soon enough. Just be patient."

Elena replied, "Oh, okay! I can't wait! Oh, there's Terra over there! Well, see ya Geo!"

Geo waved and returned to waiting for the whole gang to get there. Terra was a girl appearing to be about 16 years of age. Her long blonde hair was paired with a blue bandana and she had a healthy glow to her with rosy cheeks and soft brown eyes. Her brown shirt had a Groudon with fiery magma designs surrounding it. Her pants were of the same hue, and her tennis shoes were black.

"Hi, Elena. How've you been? I take it this is Zack, right?"

Elena replied, "Yep."

Zack said, "Hi."

Terra smiled and asked, "And how are you doing?"

Zack replied, "Good. How about you?"

Terra smiled and clapped her hands together and announced, "I finally caught an Onix! I'm psyched! Next stop: Rhyhorn! And then Omanyte and Kabuto and Aerodactyl and…"

Elena replied, "Terra, you're doing it again."

Terra caught herself and said, "Oh, sorry."

Elena responded, "No problem."

Zack timidly said, "It's nice to have a goal."

Out from the Silph Co. building emerged a character. He appeared to be about 21 years of age and had military cut black hair. His grey eyes seemed to pierce those within his sight. He had on a sharp looking white t-shirt and grey slacks. He had on a blue denim jacket with an American Eagle on the back and wore black combat boots. "This had better be good, Geo. I took a break from work for this."

Geo replied, "Alva, this is just a meeting to explain to the new people among our ranks what exactly it is that we are."

Alva looked around and said, "I don't like the look of some of these new people."

Geo stated, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

He looked around and spotted a newcomer, "There's a good example. You know this already, but just by talking to her you wouldn't know her true nature."

The newcomer, whose name was Violet, was a short girl who appeared to be about 12 years old. She had light blue eyes and her hair was a very dark shade of purple. She had rosy cheeks and a turquoise t-shirt with a pink skirt. Over her shirt was a black jacket with a floral pattern on it. She had on normal white sneakers and a green backpack.

Geo said, "Hey there, how've you been?"

Violet smiled and said softly, "Very well. And you?"

Geo replied, "Good enough."

Violet took a glance at the man next to Geo and said, "Good morning, Alva. Has your day gone well?"

Alva replied, "I don't like the looks of some of these people."

Violet looked around at the small crowd. "They seem fine to me. I wonder where the rest of them are though? They should be here by now?"

Alva commented, "They probably got lost, or maybe are too busy to come. Irresponsible little brats."

Violet rolled her eyes behind the monitor and said, "Well, I'm going to go talk to Blazon. See ya later."

Geo looked toward his left and whistled. "Wow, that's a big crowd! I guess that's the rest of them. I'll be making the speech soon enough, so hang tight Alva."

There were seven people within this crowd, four girls and three boys.

Two of the girls were walking together, chatting. One had green hair with a red bandana. She had purple eyes and fair skin and she also had on a somewhat revealing green shirt with blue pants covering white tennis shoes. On her back were a pair of large green fairy wings that made her seem to sparkle as she approached. While looking at her normally would make her seem to be about 15, with the wings she looked younger. "I wonder what this meeting is for?"

"I tell you one thing, Sherry, Blazon had better be there!" The other girl looked to be about 16. She had long, fiery red hair and brown eyes. She had on a t-shirt that cut off around her midriff and a tight pair of low rise blue jeans. She had on a pair of red heels.

A group of three were walking close together. In the center was a girl with deeply tanned skin and onyx eyes. Her silky black hair was put up in a pony tail and didn't reach past her neck. She had on a black shirt and a black skirt and fishnet stockings ran down toward her black high heels. A red ribbon was tied around her waist and hung down her right side. She was listening intently to what the guy to her left was saying, "Okay, so first you enter in the sailing cheat so that when you make a pokemon surf it turns out instead to be a little sailboat. Be warned this only lasts until you hit shore so if you want to get back you'll have to use the cheat again. Anyway go south from Fuchsia and keep an exact path south and you'll find an island you can actually go on!"

The speaker was a boy seeming to be about the age of 14. He had short brown hair, and a pair of spectacles covering his grey eyes. He had on a normal white shirt and grey cargo pants. He wore white sneakers.

The girl asked excitedly, "So what happens when you get on the island, Corvin?"

Corvin looked somewhat embarrassed and the girl repeated, "Come on, you gotta tell me!"

Corvin said, "Well it's the strangest thing: Nothing happens."

The third member of the party let out a laugh. "Well that figures. Get Deidre all excited about a new location and then you have to tell her that nothing happens."

"Yeah, well, it's a nice view."

The third speaker was a guy appearing to be about 24. He had a green headband, a green-tinted shirt, and camouflage pants. His black hair was similar to Blazon's, messy, and his eyes were a cool metallic silver. He wore black combat boots because it was the only thing that would fit in with the ensemble. Corvin asked, "Hey, so what's your name anyway?"

"Snake."

Deidre smiled and said, "Well that's an interesting name. Actually, Isn't this the year of the snake?"

Snake nodded as a confirmation as they drew closer to the gathering.

The next two were walking together, but didn't know each other. The girl was of an indeterminate age due to what she was wearing, but most would guess about 15. She had on a white fortune telling robe, white slippers that curled toward the toes somewhat like an elf's would, and a white turban with a red jewel affixed to it. The girl herself was fair to begin with but appeared more white due to the outfit. Her silver hair was almost hidden from view and her orange eyes seemed to take in everything in their path.

The boy appeared to be roughly 18. He had medium length black hair and icy blue eyes. He donned a long red headband that if it wasn't blowing in the wind would come to about the middle of his back. His dark blue shirt was baggy, and there was a white shirt showing underneath of it. His pants were also a little loose, though not bad looking. He had on white socks and ninja style sandals. The boy asked, "So who are you?"

The girl turned to him and said, "That is the question that all people must answer some day."

The boy had a perplexed look upon his face and said, "I mean, what is your name?"

"Oh, what's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Nevertheless, it is Oriya."

The boy replied, "Huh, sounds like Jiraiya."

Oriya asked, "Who?"

He shook his head, "Oh, just someone from this show I watch. Anyway, my name is Haku."

"A pleasure to meet you, Haku. I sense great fortune in your future."

Haku laughed and said, "I hope you're right, I could use some cash."

Geo looked around at the crowd thinking to himself, "_Wow, 18 people. And that's only in the Kanto division. Incredible." _

Blazon gave a reassuring wave at the leader and Geo smiled and began his speech, "I see that many of you have recently joined us. You may not know what exactly it is that we do."

Blazon paced around, looking at the silent crowd. "You see, we of Team Rocket are dedicated to finding the secrets of Pokemon Infinity and making these secrets public so that it may help all those play this game."

Blazon chimed in, "For a small fee of course!"

The only person in the group who hadn't laughed was Hisikuin, who was looking at Blazon scornfully. In anticipation that Geo wouldn't permit such behavior and that it would be met with some kind of punishment, he then turned toward his superior. Geo had a smile on his face. "Of course. And that money shall trickle down to you all as well as everyone else who is a member of our organization.

"Now, some of you may have played some of the older games and thus know that in the past Team Rocket was an evil organization. Well I say no more! We shall purge the name of its connotations and invent a new Team Rocket, one that exists for the good of all!"

Geo paused for a moment to looked at the crowd. He smiled when he saw how excited he had gotten them. "We shall bring about a new age where the name Team Rocket shall no longer be spoken off negatively! But remember that to accomplish this we must be ever mindful of our individual behavior. One bad individual could ruin the entire image of this new era."

Alva shouted in the heat of the moment, "And that means get rid of the hackers!"

While most of the people had nodded enthusiastically, Deidre, Corvin, and Snake all gave each other nervous glances.

Geo grimaced. He wished Alva hadn't of done that. While he didn't think that there were too many hackers within his organization, he still didn't want to turn them away from it completely. Still, if he wanted to avoid persecution from those of the administrators until they had decided that Team Rocket wasn't a bad organization then he would have to keep his mouth shut. "Most of all within this team, however, is to have fun. There is no point in playing the game if you aren't going to have fun so please try not to overwork yourself. If you need to take a break from research go ahead. I have no problem with this."

Hisikuin spoke up, "Sir, I mean Geo?"

Geo responded, "Yes?"

Hisikuin asked, "When are you going to replace Canika?"

Geo sighed, "I haven't decided yet. I'm kinda hoping that she'll come back after getting over her little scare."

Hisikuin didn't seem pleased with this, though he held his tongue. Geo walked away from the crowd, glancing back once to take one last look before he went. Many were excitedly chatting, most likely about what they wanted to accomplish in the organization. "Geo?"

Mara had followed him. She had a concerned look on her face. "Is something wrong?"

Geo said, "I just didn't expect so many. I'm afraid I won't be able to remember their names."

Mara replied, "That's not it."

Geo sighed. "I'm worried about Canika. It's not like her to be scared for this long. On top of that Hisikuin is always pressuring me to let her go and promote him. Honestly, I don't really like the guy all that much. He's the one who does the most work and has been there since the beginning, but for some reason he really just irritates me sometimes."

Mara replied, "It'll be okay. Canika will come back, and even if she doesn't, Hisikuin will be more than capable of handling the job. He's just worried right now that somebody else below him will suddenly get promoted above him."

Geo was silent, and Mara commanded her avatar to put a comforting arm around him, "It'll be okay, you'll see."

"I hope so, Mara, I hope so."

* * *

Okay, that's it! I hope you liked the chapter and didn't feel too lost (read it a second time if you feel that you need to). Most of the chapters ahead of this one will be about Lily, but I wanted to introduce you all to some of the characters now so you will be acquainted when they so up later in the story. Most will make random appearances so be on constant watch. 


End file.
